Five questions with Kelsey Brewer, chief governmental officer for ASI

What is your dream job? "My absolute dream job would be chief of staff for the White House. There's never been a female chief of staff."

What do you do for fun? A night of pizza and romantic comedies is her idea of fun. "I love my friends. I'm a big extrovert."

What is your favorite romantic comedy? "Notting Hill": "I can watch it any time of the day."

What are you listening to? "One of my new obsessions is Sam Smith. Because I lived in Bakersfield, it's mandatory that you like country music. Bakersfield is more like Texas than California. It has seven country radio stations."

What are you reading? "I just read 'The Fault in our Stars.' My sister made me read it." Up next is Hillary Clinton's new book, "Hard Choices."

Associated Students Inc.

Cal State Fullerton's student-run government manages a $15 million budget and operates three student centers on campus: Student Recreation Center, Titan Student Union and Children's Center, which provides child care for students who have children.

ASI allocates funding to InterClub councils, which oversee most of the student events and clubs on campus. Some of last year's events included the Bloktoberfest, featuring a "weenie race," and Bill Nye, who spoke at the Titan Student Union.

Some of ASI's services include an LGBTQ resource center, scholarships, a legal clinic and discount tickets to local activities such as amusement parks and movies.

InterCouncils: Eight, representing the university's eight colleges, and two others: Sports Club InterClub Council and Community Service InterClub Council.

ASI board: Made up of two elected students from each college. Board holds weekly Tuesday meetings.

Executive director: Fred Sanchez, a non-student CSUF administrator. He reports to the board.

Board of Directors: Andrea DiTommaso and Ramsey Guerra, College of the Arts; Starlena McBride and Adam Shurter, College of Business & Economics; Ciara Redmond and Jourdan Leudeke, College of Communications; Alexander Foy and Derek Weinman, College of Education; Christopher Mata and Craig Varner, College of Engineering and Computer Science; Nicholas Brooks and Katy Johnson, College of Health and Human Development; Michelle Viorato (vice chair) and Amanda Martinez, College of Humanities and Social Sciences; Brian Vu and Neha Ansari (board chair), College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics; Tonantzin Oseguera, University president's representative

Kelsey Brewer, incoming chief governmental officer for ASI's incoming executive team, and her three-person team met weekly during the summer for "power hours."

 Engage students in the upcoming mid-term election. To get students registered to vote, her team is working with the programming and events groups, ASI Productions and the Titan Tusk Force, to plan a fun and inviting voter registration rally with food and a movie. "It's also a way for people to come together for a night, have a good laugh and just kind of hang out."

 Get students to vote with a first-ever Election Day rally. "It's one thing to get everybody to register. It's another thing to get them to vote on Nov. 4."

 ASI Awareness. "In the past two years we've been trying to tell students: 'You are ASI.' That message is starting to resonate with students." Fees students pay as part of their tuition account for most of ASI's funding.

Cal State Fullerton wasn’t Kelsey Brewer’s first-choice school.

But like many students, the cost of college was one of her top concerns.

“I really couldn’t afford to go anywhere else but Cal State Fullerton,” she said. “I wasn’t particularly happy that that was how I had to make my decision.

“But then I got here, and then I fell in love with it. I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else,” said Brewer, a junior this year. “Things have a way of working themselves out.”

As a freshman, Brewer threw herself into campus activities.

“I knew my personality. If I have nothing to do, my grades actually suffer because I get super lazy and procrastinate. But if I have 5 million things on my plate and I have to prioritize my time, my grades are always better,” she said.

“That’s just something I recognized in myself, so I wanted to get involved.”

INVOLVEMENT IN STUDENT GOVERNMENT

She first got involved with the Resident Student Association, which plans events and advocates on behalf of students who live on campus.

Last year Brewer joined Lobby Corps, a student government group that lobbies the state Legislature on things that matter to students, such as keeping tuition affordable.

“That has led to so many different things.”

Namely, becoming chief governmental officer for Associated Students Inc., the student-run government that has major responsibilities on campus. In her new position, she oversees Lobby Corps and works with elected state leaders to advance the goals of the Cal State Fullerton student body.

“The really cool thing about student government is we can be united in a very common experience,” she said. “There are a lot of things that keep us together rather than divide us.”

Brewer recently took on another big responsibility. Gov. Jerry Brown appointed her as one of two students on the 25-member Board of Trustees for the California State University system. She began her two-year trustee term this summer.

The board is the governing body of the 23-campus Cal State system. Brewer will advocate on behalf of students in all of the CSU schools.

“She’ll be a strong voice for all of the students,” said Harpreet Bath, president of ASI. “She’s very passionate, and she’s very considerate of the diverse opinions that our students have.”

Some of Brewer’s goals while serving on the CSU board are to improve graduation rates and help solve the “bottleneck” course problem, which is something CSU schools have been working on, she said.

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